Aisin-Gioro Puyi ( ) (7 February 1906 – 17 October 1967), of the Manchu Aisin Gioro ruling family, was the last Emperor of China. He ruled in two periods between 1908 and 1917, firstly as the Xuantong Emperor (宣統皇帝) from 1908 to 1912, and nominally as a non-ruling puppet emperor for twelve days in 1917. He was the twelfth and final member of the Qing Dynasty to rule over China proper.
He was married to the Empress Gobulo Wan Rong under the suggestion of the Imperial Dowager Concubine Duan-Kang. Later, between 1934 and 1945, he was the Kangde Emperor (康德皇帝) of Manchukuo. In the People's Republic of China, he was a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1964 until his death in 1967. His abdication was a symbol of the end of a long era in China, and he is widely known as The Last Emperor (末代皇帝). However Yuan Shikai, the first President of the Republic of China later claimed the title of "Emperor of China".
Name
In English, he is known more simply as
Puyi (
P'u-i in
Wade-Giles romanization), which is in accordance with the Manchu tradition of never using an individual's clan name and
given name together, but is in complete contravention of the
traditional Chinese and Manchu custom whereby the private given name of an emperor was considered
taboo and ineffable. It may be that the use of the given name Puyi after the overthrow of the empire was thus a political technique, an attempt to express desecration of the old order. After Puyi lost his imperial title in 1924 he was officially styled "Mr. Puyi" (溥儀先生
Pǔyí Xiānsheng) in China. His clan name Aisin-Gioro was seldom used. He is also known to have used the name "Henry"
¹, a name chosen with his English language teacher, Scotsman
Reginald Johnston.
Puyi's paternal grandfather was the 1st Prince Chun (1840–1891) who was himself a son of the Daoguang Emperor and a younger half-brother of Xianfeng Emperor, but not the next in line after Xianfeng (the 1st Prince Chun had older half-brothers that were closer in age to Xianfeng). Xianfeng was succeeded by his only son, who became the Tongzhi Emperor (r.1861-1875).
Tongzhi died without a son, and was succeeded by Guangxu Emperor (r.1875–1908), the son of the 1st Prince Chun and his wife, who was the younger sister of Empress Dowager Cixi. Guangxu died without an heir.
Puyi, who succeeded Guangxu, was the eldest son of the 2nd Prince Chun (1883–1951), who was the son of the 1st Prince Chun and his second concubine, the Lady Lingiya (1866–1925). Lady Lingiya was a maid at the mansion of the 1st Prince Chun whose original Chinese family name was Liu (劉); this was changed into the Manchu clan's name Lingyia when she was made a Manchu, a requirement before becoming the concubine of a Manchu prince. The 2nd Prince Chun was, therefore, a younger half-brother of the Guangxu Emperor and the first brother in line after Guangxu.
Puyi was in a branch of the imperial family with close ties to Cixi, who was herself from the (Manchu) Yehe-Nara clan (the imperial family were the Aisin Gioro clan). Cixi married the daughter of her brother to her nephew Guangxu, who became, after Guangxu and Cixi's death, the Empress Dowager Longyu (1868–1913).
Puyi's second cousin, Pu Xuezhai ( ), was an important master of the guqin musical instrument tradition and an artist of Chinese painting.
Another brother, Pujie (1907–1994), married a cousin of Emperor Hirohito, Princess Hiro Saga, and changed the rules of succession to allow him to succeed his brother, who had no children.
His last surviving (half-)brother Pu Ren (born 1918) still lives in China and has taken the Chinese name Jin Youzhi. In 2006, Jin Youzhi filed a lawsuit in regards to the rights to Puyi's image and privacy. The lawsuit claimed those rights were violated by the exhibit "China's Last Monarch and His Family".
Maternal side
Puyi's mother, the
2nd Princess Chun (1884–1921), given name Youlan (幼蘭), was the 2nd Prince Chun's wife. She was the daughter of the Manchu general
Ronglu (榮祿) (1836–1903) from the
Guwalgiya clan. Ronglu was one of the leaders of the conservative faction at the court, and a staunch supporter of
Empress Dowager Cixi; Cixi rewarded his support by marrying his daughter, Puyi's mother, into the Imperial family.
The Guwalgiya clan was regarded as one of the Qing Dynasty's most powerful Manchu families. Oboi, a chief advisor to the Kangxi Emperor, was also from this clan.
Biography
Emperor of China (1908–1912)
Chosen by
Dowager Empress Cixi while on her deathbed,
His wet-nurse, Wen-Chao Wang, was the only one who could console him, and therefore accompanied Puyi to the Forbidden City. Puyi would not see his real mother again for seven years. Puyi developed a special closeness with Wen-Chao Wang and credited her with being the only person who could control him. She was sent away when he was eight years old. After he married, he would occasionally bring her to the Forbidden City, and later Manchukuo, to visit him. After his special government pardon in 1959, he visited her adopted son and only then learned of her personal sacrifices to be his nurse.
Puyi's upbringing was hardly conducive to the raising of a healthy, well-balanced child. Overnight, he was treated as a god and unable to behave as a child. The adults in his life, save his wet-nurse Wen-Chao, were all strangers, remote, distant, and unable to discipline him. Wherever he went, grown men would kneel to the floor in a ritual kow-tow, averting their eyes until he passed. Soon the young Puyi discovered the absolute power he wielded over the eunuchs, and frequently had them beaten for small transgressions.
After his marriage, Puyi began to take control of the palace. He described "an orgy of looting" taking place that involved "everyone from the highest to the lowest". According to Puyi, by the end of his wedding ceremony, the pearls and jade in the empress's crown had been stolen. Locks were broken, areas ransacked, and on June 27, 1923 a fire destroyed the area around the Palace of the Established Happiness. Puyi suspected it was arson to cover theft. The emperor overheard conversations among the eunuchs that made him fear for his life. In response, he evicted the eunuchs from the palace. His next plan of action was to reform the Household Department, the officials of which he charged became so wealthy from theft and graft that they were able to run their own outside businesses.
Abdication
Puyi's father, the
2nd Prince Chun, served as a
regent until 6 December 1911 when
Empress Dowager Longyu took over in the face of the
Xinhai Revolution. Signed with the new
Republic of China, Puyi was to retain his imperial title and be treated by the government of the Republic with the
protocol attached to a foreign monarch. This was similar to
Italy's
Law of Guarantees (1870) which accorded the
Pope certain honors and privileges similar to those enjoyed by the
King of Italy. He and the imperial court were allowed to remain in the northern half of the
Forbidden City (the Private Apartments) as well as in the
Summer Palace. A hefty annual subsidy of 4 million silver dollars was granted by the Republic to the imperial household, although it was never fully paid and was abolished after just a few years.
The Articles of Favourable Treatment of the Emperor of the Great Qing after his Abdication
The document is dated 26 December 1914.
1. After the abdication of the TaQing emperor, his title of dignity is to be retained by the Republic of China with the courtesies which it is customary to accord to foreign monarchs.
2. After the abdication of the TaQing emperor, he will receive from the Republic of China an annual subsidy of Tls.4,000,000. After the reform of the currency this amount will be altered to $4,000,000 (mex.).
3. After the abdication of the TaQing emperor, he may, as a temporary measure, continue to reside in the Palace (in the Forbidden City), but afterwards he will remove himself to the Yi- Ho Park (the Summer Palace). He may retain his bodyguard.
4. After the abdication of the TaQing emperor, the temples and mausoleums of the imperial family with their appropriate sacrificial rites shall be maintained in perpetuity. The Republic of China will be responsible for the provision of military guards for their adequate protection.
5. As the Ch'ung mausoleum of the late emperor Tê Tsung has not yet been completed, the work will be carried out according to the proper regulations (relating to imperial tombs). The last ceremonies of sepulture will also be observed in accordance with the ancient rites. The actual expenses will all be borne by the Republic of China.
6. The services of all the persons of various grades hitherto employed in the Palace may be retained; but in future no eunuchs are to be added to the staff.
7. After the abdication of the TaQing emperor, his private property will be safeguarded and protected by the Republic of China.
8. The imperial guard corps as constituted at the time of the abdication will be placed under the military control of the War Office of the Republic of China. It will be maintained at its original strength and will receive the same emoluments as heretofore.
Brief restoration (1917)
In 1917, the
warlord general
Zhang Xun (張勛) restored Puyi to his throne for twelve days from July 1 to July 12. Zhang ordered his army to keep their queues (long
plaits or "pigtails") to display loyalty to the emperor. During those 12 days, one small bomb was dropped over the Forbidden City by a republican plane, causing minor damage. This is considered the first aerial bombardment ever in
Eastern Asia. The restoration failed due to extensive opposition across
China, and the decisive intervention of another warlord general,
Duan Qirui.
Puyi was expelled from the Forbidden City in Beijing in 1924 by warlord Feng Yuxiang.
Residence in Tianjin (1924-1932)
Following his expulsion from the
Forbidden City, Puyi spent a few days at the house of his father 2nd Prince Chun, and then temporarily resided in the Japanese embassy for a year and a half. During this period, Puyi and his advisers
Chen Baochen,
Zheng Xiaoxu and
Luo Zhenyu discussed ways to restore Puyi as Emperor. Xiaoxu and Zhenyu favored enlisting outside assistance, while Baochen opposed the idea. In September 1931, Puyi sent a letter to Japanese minister of war
Jirō Minami stating his desire to be restored to the throne.
Ruler of Manchukuo (1932–1945)
]]
On 1 March 1932, Puyi was installed by the Japanese as the ruler of
Manchukuo, considered by most historians as a
puppet state of
Imperial Japan, under the
reign title Datong (大同). In 1934, he was officially crowned the emperor of Manchukuo under the reign title Kangde (康德). He was constantly at odds with the Japanese in private, though submissive in public. He resented being "Head of State" and then "Emperor of Manchukuo" rather than being fully restored as Qing Emperor. Puyi lived at
Wei Huang Gong in this period. At his enthronement he clashed with Japan over dress; they wanted him to wear a Manchukuoan uniform whereas he considered it an insult to wear anything but traditional
Qing Dynasty robes. In a typical compromise, he wore a Western military uniform to his enthronement (the only Chinese emperor ever to do so) and
dragon robes to the announcement of his accession at the
Altar of Heaven.
His brother Pujie, who married Hiro Saga, a distant cousin to the Japanese Emperor Hirohito, was proclaimed heir apparent. The marriage had been politically arranged by Shigeru Honjō, general of the Kwantung Army. Puyi thereafter would not speak candidly in front of his brother and refused to eat any food provided by Hiro Saga. Puyi was forced to sign an agreement that if he himself had a male heir, the child would be sent to Japan to be raised by the Japanese.
From 1935-1945, Kwangtung Army senior staff officer Yasunori Yoshioka was assigned to Puyi as Attaché to the Imperial Household in Manchukuo. He acted as a spy for the Japanese government, controlling Puyi through fear, intimidation, and direct orders. There were many attempts on Puyi's life during this period, including a 1937 stabbing by a palace servant. It is unclear whether the adoption of ancient Chinese styles and rites such as using "His Majesty" instead of his real name were the product of Puyi's interest or a Japanese imposition of their own imperial house rules.
]]
During these years, he began taking a greater interest in traditional Chinese law and religion (e.g. Confucianism and Buddhism), but this was disallowed by the Japanese. Slowly, his old supporters were eliminated and pro-Japanese ministers put in their place. During this period, his life consisted mostly of signing laws prepared by Japan, reciting prayers, consulting oracles, and making formal visits throughout his kingdom.
Later life (1945–1967)
At the end of
World War II, Puyi was captured by the
Soviet Red Army on 16 August 1945 while he was in an aeroplane fleeing to
Japan. The Soviet army took him to the
Siberian town of
Chita. He lived in a
sanatorium, but was later taken to
Khabarovsk near the Chinese border.
In 1946, he testified at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East in Tokyo. There he was scathing in his resentment of how he had been treated by the Japanese.
When the Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, Puyi was repatriated to China after negotiations between the USSR and China. Puyi spent ten years in a Fushun War Criminals Management Centre, except during the Korean War he was taken to Harbin where he spent three years until 1954 because Fushun was near the Korean border, in Liaoning province until he was declared reformed. Puyi came to Beijing in 1959 with special permission from Chairman Mao Zedong and lived the next six months in an ordinary Beijing residence with his sister before being transferred to a government-sponsored hotel. He voiced his support for the Communists and worked at the Beijing Botanical Gardens. He married Li Shuxian, a hospital nurse, on 30 April 1962, in a ceremony held at the Banquet Hall of the Consultative Conference. He subsequently worked as an editor for the literary department of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, where his monthly salary was around 100 Yuan of the Conference, an office in which he served from 1964 until his death.
With encouragement from Mao and then Premier Zhou Enlai, and openly endorsed by the Government, Puyi wrote his autobiography (我的前半生 — "The first half of my life", translated in English as From Emperor to Citizen) in the 1960s alongside Li Wenda, an editor of Beijing's People Publishing Bureau. In the Oxford University edition of the book, in the chapter I Refuse to Admit My Guilt, he made this statement regarding his false testimony at the Tokyo war crimes trial:
I now feel very ashamed of my testimony, as I withheld some of what I knew to protect myself from being punished by my country. I said nothing about my secret collaboration with the Japanese imperialists over a long period, an association to which my open capitulation after September 18, 1931 was but the conclusion. Instead, I spoke only of the way the Japanese had put pressure on me and forced me to do their will.
I maintained that I had not betrayed my country but had been kidnapped; denied all my collaboration with the Japanese; and even claimed that the letter I had written to Jirō Minami was a fake. I covered up my crimes in order to protect myself.
Death and burial
Mao began the
Cultural Revolution in 1966, and the youth militia known as the
Red Guards saw Puyi, who symbolized Imperial China, as an easy target of attack. Puyi was placed under protection by the local public security bureau, although his food rations, salary, and various luxuries, including his sofa and desk, were removed . Puyi became affected physically and emotionally. He died in
Beijing of complications arising from
kidney cancer and
heart disease on 17 October 1967.
In accordance to the laws of the People's Republic of China at the time, Puyi's body was cremated. His ashes were first placed at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery, alongside those of other party and state dignitaries (before the establishment of the People's Republic of China this was the burial ground of Imperial concubines and eunuchs).
In 1995, as a part of a commercial arrangement, Puyi's widow transferred his ashes to a new commercial cemetery in return for monetary support. The cemetery is located near the Western Qing Tombs (清西陵), 120 km (75 miles) southwest of Beijing, where four of the nine Qing emperors preceding him are interred, along with three empresses, and 69 princes, princesses, and imperial concubines.
Family
in
Tianjin]]
Quotation of Puyi:
The Pedigree of the Ching House flow chart can be found in Puyi's autobiography.
Brothers
Pujie (Pu Chieh) (1907–1994), who had a minor role in the government of Manchukuo
Pu Chi
Puren (Pu Jen) (who later took the name Jin Youzhi), a younger half-brother, born after the imperial family had lost power
Sisters
Yun Ying
Yun Ho
Yun Ing
Yun Hsien
Yun Hsing
Yun Yu
Yun Huan
Wives
Wan Rong, the Empress (婉容) (1906–1946). Married in 1922
Wen Xiu, the Imperial Consort Shu (文繡) (1909–1953)
Tan Yuling, the Xiang Concubine (谭玉龄) (1920–1942). Married in 1937
Li Yuqin, the Fu Concubine (李玉琴) (1928–2001). Married in 1943, divorced in 1958
Li Shuxian (李淑賢) (1925–1997). Married in 1962
In detail:
Quotation of Puyi (referring to only the first four wives):
In 1921, it was decided by the High Consorts that it was time for the 15-year-old Puyi to be married, although court politics dragged the complete process (from selecting the bride, up through the wedding ceremony) out for almost two years. Puyi saw marriage as his coming of age benchmark, when others would no longer control him. He was given four photographs to choose from. Puyi stated they all looked alike to him, with the exception of different clothing. He chose Wen Xiu. Political factions within the palace made the actual choice as to whom Puyi would marry. The selection process alone took an entire year.
Empress Wan Rong
Puyi's second choice, a Manchu named
Wan Rong (1906–1946, a.k.a. Radiant Countenance), became the
Empress. She was considered beautiful and came from a wealthy family. By his own account, he abandoned Wan Rong in the bridal chamber and went back to his own room. He maintained that she was willing to be a wife in name only, in order to carry the title of Empress. He placed blame for consort Wen Xiu's 1931 departure on Wan Rong and quit speaking to her or acknowledging her presence.
Imperial Consort Wen Xiu
His first choice for wife was
Wen Xiu (1909–1950), whom court officials deemed from an unacceptable impoverished family and not beautiful enough to be an Empress; Wen Xiu was designated as a concubine, and eventually sued for divorce in 1931. Puyi awarded her a house in Beijing and $300,000 in alimony, to be provided by the Japanese.
Xiang Concubine Tan Yuling
His third wife was a Manchu,
Tan Yuling, (1920–1942) a 16-year-old he married in 1937. He married her as "punishment" for Wan Rong, and,
"...because a second wife was as essential as palace furniture." She was also a wife in name only. She became ill in 1942 with typhoid, which the Japanese-occupation doctor said would not be fatal. After the doctor's consultation with Attaché to the Imperial Household Yasunori Yoshioka, Tan Yuling suddenly died. Puyi became suspicious of the circumstances when the Japanese immediately offered him photographs of Japanese girls for marriage.
Fu Concubine Li Yuqin
In 1943, Puyi married his fourth wife, a 15-year-old student named
Li Yuqin (1928–2001), a
Han. In February 1943, school principal Kobayashi and teacher Fujii of the Nan-Ling Girls Academy took ten girl students to a photography studio for portraits. Three weeks later, the school teacher and the principal visited Li Yuqin's home and told her Puyi ordered her to go to the Manchukuo palace to study. She was first taken directly to Yasunori Yoshioka who thoroughly questioned her. Yoshioka then drove her back to her parents and told them Puyi ordered her to study at the palace. Money was promised to the parents. She was subjected to a medical examination and then taken to Puyi's sister Yun-Ho and prepped on palace protocol. Two years later when Manchukuo collapsed, Li Yuqin shared a train with the Empress who was going through opium withdrawal symptoms at the time. They were both arrested by the Soviets and sent to a prison in
Changchun. Li Yuqin was released in 1946 sent back to her home. She worked in a textile factory while she studied the works of
Karl Marx and
Vladimir Lenin. In 1955, she began visiting Puyi in prison. After applying to the Chinese authorities for a divorce, the government responded on her next prison visit by showing her to a room with a double bed and ordered her to reconcile with Puyi, and she said the couple obeyed the order. She divorced Puyi in 1958. She later married a technician, and had two sons.
Citizen wife Li Shuxian
In 1962, he married his fifth and last wife, a Han nurse,
Li Shuxian (1925–1997), who survived him. She died of
lung cancer in 1997. The Emperor had no children.
Bibliography
By Puyi
:Ghost-written by Li Wenda, is well known as
From Emperor to Citizen in the Western world. It was released in China again in 2007 as a newly and correctly revised version. Many sentences which were deleted in the 1964 version were correctly included.
*
By others
Films
Huo Long (Fire Dragon) (1986) by Li Han Hsiang
* The Last Emperor (1987) by Bernardo Bertolucci
Books
:Puyi's Scottish tutor from 1919 to 1924
:Puyi's fifth wife
Li Shuxian. Memories of their life together were ghost written by Wang Qingxian. An English version translated by Ni Na was published by China Travel and Tourism Press.
:Companion to Bernardo Bertolucci's film of the same name.
Notes
¹
Aisin-Gioro is the clan's name in
Manchu, pronounced Àixīn Juéluó in
Mandarin; Pǔyí is the Chinese given name as pronounced in
Mandarin.
See also
*Dynasties in Chinese history
List of monarchs who lost their thrones in the 20th century
List of Heads of State who were later imprisoned
The Last Emperor
References
External links
Royalty.nu: Extended Bio
TIME: Last Emperor's Humble Occupation
Li Xin, Pu Yi's Widow Reveals Last Emperor's Soft Side
Pu Ru (溥儒), Pu Yi's cousin, accomplished Chinese brush painter and calligrapher
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Category:1906 births
Category:1967 deaths
Category:Qing Dynasty emperors
Category:20th-century Chinese monarchs
Category:Manchu people
Category:Manchukuo
Category:World War II political leaders
Category:People of the Xinhai Revolution
Category:Pretenders to the Chinese throne
Category:Pretenders to the Manchu throne
Category:Chinese collaborators with Imperial Japan
Category:Rulers deposed as children
Category:Monarchs that abdicated
Category:Child rulers from Asia
Category:People of Manchukuo
